Aesthetically Moving Experiences and Creative Inspiration

Moments of creative inspiration are critical pivot points that mark the transition from creative ideation to actualization of an idea. We hypothesize that the state of being aesthetically moved, a critical moment during aesthetic reception, is similar to the state of being creatively inspired. Using a novel experimental paradigm in which participants write short creative texts in response to visual prompts, we are testing the potential for aesthetically moving experiences to prime creative inspiration. A long-term goal of this work is to understand how engagement with aesthetic materials might affect an individual’s creative production in both scientific and educational settings.